Derby man’s film a meditation on faith

2of2A still from “Acts of Contrition,” a short film directed by Stephen Bisaccia of Derby.Photo: Stephen Bisaccia / Contributed photo

Stephen Bisaccia is proof that libraries work.

The 22-year-old Derby native has been hanging around the Derby Neck Library much of his life. That includes joining the library’s film club when he was in middle school. And now Bisaccia has gone from film enthusiast to filmmaker.

Bisaccia directed and co-wrote the short film “Acts of Contrition,” a sensitive, sympathetic look at a flawed but decent priest called Father Don (Tom Martin). The film has played in festivals across the Northeast and Bisaccia has been lauded as a Best Emerging Filmmaker at the 2019 Emerge Film Festival in Lewiston, Maine and Best New Director at the Mystic Film Festival in Connecticut.

But it started at his local library, when his older brother got him into the film club. “He was a big influence to me getting into movies and filmmaking,” Bisaccia says.

He channeled that love into making “dozens upon dozens” of small films, and pursued his art more seriously while a student at Quinnipiac University. “Acts of Contrition” was a group project he worked on as part of his doctoral thesis.

The idea for the film grew organically out of discussions with his team. “We were going through a lot of ideas,” Bisaccia says. “We were really intrigued by the duality of a priest who is also an Uber driver.”

He says, as someone who grew up with a variety of interests — including but not limited to film, sports and rap music — he liked the idea of someone who had committed his life to the arguably “antiquated” career of the priesthood, but also dabbled in something contemporary.

Indeed, the first scene shows those two sides of Father Don coming into direct conflict, as he picks up a fare who recognizes him from church, only to bail on the fare when he sees a homeless man sleeping outside and decides to help him instead.

The movie goes on to show that Don is fundamentally decent but somewhat disillusioned. He gets bored during a service, fails to remember the name of a woman he buried recently (until her husband shows up in his confession booth threatening suicide) and is somewhat prickly toward the homeless man he helps in the film’s first scene.

But Don, we learn, is also dealing with the death of someone close to him, and genuinely wants to be a better spiritual leader to his flock.

Bisaccia says part of Don’s character comes from his own conflicted beliefs about religion.

“I grew up very religious,” Bisaccia says, adding that he has since gone through a period of spiritual questioning. “I’m pretty agnostic now. I don’t know what I know and I don’t know what I don’t know.”

In a time where much of the news about the priesthood is generated by clergy behaving badly, Bisaccia says it was important to him that Father Don not be a saint, but that he not be a predator either.

“I wanted to find a middle ground,” Bisaccia says. “He’s not a perfect human being, but some priests are decent human beings who are just doing their best.”

In addition to a meditation on faith, the movie is also something of a tribute to Bisaccia’s mother, who died about three years ago, and to whom the movie is dedicated.

The film was largely bankrolled through a crowdfunding campaign that raised $9,000 from 119 supporters, many of whom are residents of lower Naugatuck Valley. “Acts of Contrition” was shot entirely in Connecticut, using locations in Derby, Ansonia and Oxford.

For instance, the church Father Don works at is “played” by St. Mary’s Church in Derby.

Bisaccia and his fellow filmmakers are still trying to get the film seen. He says he’s submitted the movie to roughly 45 differently festivals. In about a year, he plans to post “Acts of Contrition” publicly.

In the meantime, he’s teaching part-time, working at the Derby Neck Library, and thinking up ideas for his next project. Surprisingly, given that his first film has been fairly well-received, Bisaccia says he’s thinking of pursuing aspects of filmmaking other than writing and directing.

Though I grew up in Michigan, I'm from Connecticut originally and moved here shortly after graduating Michigan State University. I've worked for the Connecticut Post in a variety positions, including town reporter, features writer, TV columnist and health editor. I write mainly for the news section, covering the town of Monroe and reporting on breaking news Sunday evenings. I'm a married mother of twins who loves reading, watching TV and rooting for the Michigan State Spartans.